


liar

by Anonymous



Category: Prodigal Son (TV 2019)
Genre: Angst, Case Fic, He Does Not Get One, M/M, Malcolm Bright Needs a Hug, Malcolm Bright Whump, Mental Institutions, Sort Of, no happy ending, partial fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-07
Updated: 2020-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-01 02:07:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 857
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23047504
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: malcolm is arrested and tossed into claremont for doing - something bad. the team go and visit him to get a few answers so they can figure out what the hell is going on.a partial fic - written as a daily prompt for the brimel discord
Relationships: Malcolm Bright/JT Tarmel
Comments: 8
Kudos: 28
Collections: Anonymous





	liar

“Why do you keep _lying_ , man?” JT demanded, turning away from Malcolm and rubbing at his face. He was tired, Gil was tired, Dani was tired. They were all tired.

Malcolm was tired, too. 

“I’m not,” Malcolm said, begging they’d believe him - JT especially. “Please - just. Please.” He couldn’t move from where he’d been pushed to the floor. After he’d attacked Martin, they’d put him in solitary, and they wouldn’t let him have visitors unless it was special circumstances. He’d been alone for days. Not even the person who brought him his food and checked to ensure he was still alive spoke to him. He also wasn’t trusted to see anyone without the straight jacket, and that… that was humiliating. More humiliating. 

“We have you on tape,” Gil said quietly. He didn’t want to believe it. None of them did. 

Mom had written him off already. She was burying her head in the sand and drinking away her problems. Ainsley had taken advantage of her connection to the situation to get a first-hand exclusive report. She had had a look of unholy glee when they’d come to arrest him, recording it on her phone. 

“It’s not me,” Malcolm said. He knew it wouldn't do any good, though. He was broken. They all were. They’d never trust him again, even if they were able to find proof that it wasn’t him. He wasn’t certain they even wanted to try. That might have been the worst part. “I mean, Jesus Christ, I don’t actually spend that much time alone.” He laughed, and he knew it wasn’t a good sound judging by the look on Dani’s face. He wished he could brush the hair out of his face. “What’s the time stamp on the tape?”

“There isn’t one,” Dani told him, her voice vaguely apologetic. 

“We’ve pieced together that it was sometime between eight and eleven pm,” Gil offered, “but we can’t figure out which day.”

Malcolm laughed again, tipping his head back and staring up at the bright, white light until he felt like he would go blind. “Clearly my alibi isn’t good enough.”

A long, tense pause.

“What alibi?” Dani asked.

Malcolm lowered his head and blinked slowly until their images resolved into something distinguishable. He looked at JT in disbelief. “You - you didn’t tell them?”

“I thought they knew,” JT said. He looked at Gil. “I thought Malcolm had already told you. I thought the tape wasn’t an issue. It was the DNA that was the problem, right?”

“DNA?” Dani asked, her voice sharp. “What DNA?”

“Edrisa told me she found DNA on the last vic,” JT said. “The tapes shouldn’t fucking matter. Malcolm was with me every single night since before this shit started going down. And you know he literally locks himself to his bed at night, so it’s not like he’s sleep walking. Or am I just not trustworthy enough to provide an alibi?” JT asked, looking at Gil.

Gil held up both hands, both Dani and JT facing off against him now. “The DNA Edrisa found has to be analyzed again. The preliminary test pinged for Malcolm, but it wasn’t a full panel. And no, JT, you can’t alibi your boyfriend. And you haven’t been able to account for yours and Malcolm’s whereabouts so we can rule him out entirely. Until I have physical evidence that places him somewhere else, I have to keep investigating.” 

“Why does it sound like you _want_ Malcolm to take the fall for this?” Dani asked. She crossed her arms over her chest, and Malcolm giggled. His meds weren’t right for him, and they kept pushing him higher and higher and higher. Any higher and he’d crash and burn. But they also wouldn’t consult Dr. Le Deux, so he’d resigned himself to a psychotic break. The question would be whether or not he could recover from it. 

“I don’t,” Gil said sharply, “but if I don’t do this right? If I don’t do this exactly by the book, be as critical as I can be? They’ll overturn anything we find, and Malcolm will be stuck here.” Gil was right. All three of them were far too close to be working Malcolm’s case. They weren’t supposed to be. But they also didn’t trust anyone else to do it right. “So until I get hard, physical evidence to overturn what the other detectives found? My hands are tied.” He turned to look at Malcolm. “But you - you have to stop lying to us, Malcolm. Tell us what you know.”

Malcolm laughed. He couldn’t scream, couldn’t cry. Could barely move. 

“I just want to go home. I don’t want to be here anymore. Please. Please.” 

“Come on,” Gil said quietly, and the buzzer sounded to let them out of the room. “He’s - he’s not gonna give us anything.”

The door shut behind them - they hadn’t even said goodbye - and as soon as they were gone, the light shut out, too. Malcolm laughed again. 

He laughed and laughed and laughed. He couldn’t do anything else, trapped there in the dark. They hadn’t even come to take him out of the straight jacket. 


End file.
